Laura Vecchione sings cool songs for a good cause at TCAN

Thursday

May 4, 2017 at 2:00 PM

By Ed Symkus, Correspondent

When singer-songwriter Laura Vecchione and her band take the stage at The Center for Arts in Natick (TCAN) on May 13, she’ll have two big reasons to celebrate: It’s the official release gig for her newest album “Love Lead,” and proceeds from the event will benefit an organization she champions, Family Promise MetroWest.

It’s her third album, and the first one made through fan-funding (Indiegogo). It’s also one that covers more musical ground than her first two, “Deeper Waters” and “Girl in the Band.”

“When you do different styles, you get to express different parts of yourself,” said Vecchione from her home in Watertown.

That kind of thinking goes back to when she was growing up near New York City, listening to female singers ranging from Barbra Streisand and Aretha Franklin to Donna Summer and Andrea McArdle.

“The voice was always the first thing for me as a little girl,” she said. “I was always drawn to music, and I always sang. I remember the kids on the swing set in grade school saying, ‘Will you sing “Tomorrow”?’ I wasn’t one of the cool kids, but whenever I would open my mouth to sing, that’s when people would respond to me. I took voice lessons from the time I was 15. I also studied opera, and I’d get the [opera] records out and learn the arias by ear.”

Vecchione pointed out that her influences eventually went beyond just voices, and took in more of the whole musical spectrum. She became a fan of the Beatles, Cat Stevens, Fleetwood Mac, Little Feat, and Crosby, Stills & Nash.

So it’s easy to see how she got to that range of styles on “Love Lead,” where she belts out the rocker “Keep Knockin’,” makes it mellow on “Brave,” then gets all bluesy with “Rockin’ a Baby.”

When asked how she progressed from classical to jazz to everything she’s doing now, Vecchione told a story of her time as a student at Columbia University.

“I wrote my senior thesis on Sarah Vaughan and her influence on jazz as a bebop singer in the 1940s,” she said. “I didn’t know much about her, but I chose her because of her voice. That voice really stood out, with its rich bottom end. When I started reading about her I found out that she said, ‘I don’t want to be called a jazz singer. I’m a singer, I sing everything.’

“I felt when I was younger that I wanted to train classically, because I wanted to have a voice forever,” added Vecchione. “I wanted to have a technique where I wouldn’t hurt myself, and I still believe in that. If you have the technique, you can sing all styles.”

Though she’s been writing her own material for years, Vecchione has no qualms about covering other composers’ works. On her first album she kind of reinvented “Lady Madonna.”

“You may notice that there are certain themes in the songs I choose to sing,” she said. “Some social justice themes, some feminist themes. We needed to balance that album, and I needed something that was a little bit more funky and rockin.’ I don’t know why I had heard ‘Lady Madonna’ that way. Don’t laugh, but the bass line in it has always reminded me of the ‘Wonder Woman’ theme song, and I thought wouldn’t it be cool if we tried it that way. Also, talk about who is vulnerable in our society, that song is about a single mother finding a way to get by.”

Of course, that song also fits neatly into the idea of the benefit concert at TCAN.

“Family Promise MetroWest is an organization based in Natick, but they work with families throughout the MetroWest area who are dealing with homelessness,” she explained. “They assist people who have the wherewithal to move past their circumstances and get back on their feet. They help with job training and with housing and childcare. And they partner with churches and synagogues throughout MetroWest.”

As far as what will be on Vecchione’s set list, she said. “I’ll do most of the songs from ‘Love Lead,’ and I’ll be playing a few songs from my earlier albums. I’m also somebody who talks about issues that I care about onstage. I feel that’s one of our purposes as artists: to make people feel and think.”

Laura Vecchione performs a CD release show to benefit Family Promise MetroWest at The Center for Arts in Natick on May 13 at 8 p.m. Jodi Heights opens. Tickets: $35. Info: 508-647-0097.

Upcoming concerts and club dates

May 6:

Good ol’ country boy Dwight Yoakam is at House of Blues in Boston. Elliot Root and Hallelujah the Hills open. (8 p.m.)

Puerto Rican singer-songwriter Draco Rosa (who started off in Menudo!) plays tunes from his upcoming solo album at Berklee Performance Center in Boston. (8 p.m.)

May 7:

Former backup singer, now frontwoman and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Darlene Love (“20 Feet from Stardom”) comes to the Hanover Theatre in Worcester. (4 p.m.)

This season’s Highland Jazz series winds down with a show featuring vocalists Dominique Eade and Lisa Thorson, saxophonists Cercie Miller and Allan Chase, pianist Tim Ray, John Lockwood on bass, and George Miller on drums at Newton South High School. (2 p.m.)